Velká válka

In his study the author deals with the attitudes of churches (mainly Catholic and protestant) in World War I and the influence of religion in this conflict. He discusses the confessional development in the 19th century and the ambivalent attitude to modern era in the religious environment also in the pre-war period. He analyses particular national and church communities, esp. in Great Britain, France, Italy and Austria-Hungary, the influence of spiritual and theological trends, identification of religiousness and national aims and also religious war propaganda. He is also interested in peace efforts of the churches, esp of the Holy See (Pope Benedict XV), even if he does not consider their activities very effective. In the conclusion he focuses on the results of the war in the religious sphere, among which he mentioned a rather positive development in the countries with Catholic majority, manifested eg. by the established relationships with the Holy See in France and Italy and a rather negative development in Protestant countries (esp. in Germany where the experience of defeat led to the split of the society and demoralization).